A smart home environment is created at a venue by integrating a plurality of smart devices, including intelligent, multi-sensing, network-connected devices, seamlessly with each other in a local area network and/or with a central server or a cloud-computing system to provide a variety of useful smart home functions. Sometimes, the smart home environment includes one or more network-connected cameras that are configured to provide video monitoring and security in the smart home environment. These smart devices (e.g., the network-connected cameras) are normally placed on surfaces or mounted on walls at different locations of the smart home environment. As such, each smart device must include a base that could match and come into contact with different types of surfaces including a desktop, the wall or other surfaces. It would be beneficial to mechanically couple a smart device to its base in a compact and robust manner, while maintaining at least one or more degrees of freedom of motion for the smart device.